Consultative Paper - Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations & Guidelines

Published: Friday May 11th, 2018

INTRODUCTION

The Central Bank of The Bahamas (“the Central Bank”) is responsible for the licensing, registration, regulation and supervision of supervised financial institutions (“SFIs”) operating in and from within The Bahamas pursuant to the Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act, 2000 (“BTCRA”), the Central Bank of The Bahamas Act, 2000, and The Bahamas Cooperative Credit Unions Act, 2015 (“BCCUA”). Additionally, the Central Bank has the duty, in collaboration with its SFIs, to promote and maintain high standards of conduct and management in the provision of banking and trust services.

The Banks and Trust Companies (Administrative Monetary Penalties) Regulations, 2016 and the Administrative Penalties Guidelines (issued 19th May, 2016) have been revised to allow the Central Bank to separate the imposition of administrative monetary penalties for the filing of late returns from the filing of erroneous returns; to introduce a fixed rate penalty for erroneous returns and to factor in the size of the supervised financial institution when imposing penalties. The amended Guidelines also explain in more detail the Central Bank’s approach in determining materiality of errors.

Consultative Period

The consultative period will run from 11th May 2018 to 25th May, 2018. The key changes in both documents have been shaded grey for ease of reference. We welcome your comments on these proposals.

Questions and/or Comments

Your comments and questions regarding the proposed changes should be directed to the Policy Unit, Bank Supervision Department via email.

The Policy Unit

Bank Supervision Department

Central Bank of The Bahamas

Market Street

Nassau, Bahamas

Email: [email protected]